Another irritating week for releases with several movies coming out on Tuesday, January 1st, and others coming out on Wednesday (and I've heard some reports that some of these are already in store). Normally this would cause a lot of confusion, but this week there's barely a dozen releases worth mentioning. Even then there are more than a few that feel like I was just padding the list. The best release in term of extras is War on Blu-Ray, which takes advantage of the technology like no other High Definition release on either format. On the other hand, Shoot 'Em Up is the best movie and the DVD Pick of the Week on either DVD or Blu-Ray.
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Lions for Lambs climbed a spot to sixth place with $4.34 million on 2453 screens in 53 markets for a total of $25.97 million, while only managing $1 million or more in one market this past weekend, ($1.40 million on 390 screens during its sixth place debut in France). It opens in Italy later this month and Japan in the spring of '08, but there's almost no chance the film will show a profit at this point. Normally one movie losing money isn't a big issue because the studio can rely on one or two monster hits to pay for their misses, (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix made enough money to pay for the entire budgets of half-a-dozen misses for Warner Bros. this year, and that's before the home market). However, United Artists is a newly relauched studio and they don't have a war chest built up from past victories. Stumbling out of the gate like this hurts.
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Elizabeth: The Golden Age nearly reached the top five with $5.79 million on 1579 screens in 12 markets for a total of $21.80 million. This includes a first place, $1.89 million opening on 470 screens in Russia, while the film added $933,000 on 394 screens in the U.K. for a total of $8.40 million so far.
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Stardust fell out of the top five, but still added $5.80 million on 2327 screens in 48 markets lifting its running tally to $83.50 million. Its best market remained the U.K. where it climbed a spot to second place with $2.66 million on 459 screens for a total of $23.59 million. The film has no major openings left, but $100 million internationally is still within reach.
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For the fifth week in a row, Ratatouille led the way on the international charts as it pulled in $15.65 million on 3732 screens in 30 markets for a total of $375.08 million. The film is still number one in the U.K. with $3.22 million on 498 screens and in Italy with $3.15 million on 536 screens. However, its best market of the weekend was Germany where it added $3.84 million on 835 screens scoring second place in the process. The film now has $42.19 million in Germany, $40.89 million in the U.K., and $20.37 million in Italy, which is impressive but well back of France where the animated feature has earned $66.05 million after three months of release. Even with no further markets to open in, Ratatouille will have no problem becoming just the third Pixar film to earn $600 million worldwide and the sixth such hit this year.
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The Orphanage may have fallen out of the top five internationally, but it remained the top draw in Spain with $4.11 million on 373 screens over the weekend for a three-week total of $20.78 million. This is more than Ratatouille has earned in that market after three months of release and equivalent to $200 to $300 million here. It won't make $200 to $300 million here, in fact, it might not make $20 million here. It all depends on how well it does with critics and award committees.
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Ratatouille remained in first place over the weekend as it topped $300 million internationally and $500 million worldwide. Over the weekend the film opened in first place in Italy with $6.29 million on 658 screens over the weekend and $7.26 million in total, which is the best opening for a Pixar film in that market. It also topped the charts in Sweden with $1.71 million on 183 screens over the weekend and $2.03 million in total and Poland with $1.24 million on 130 screens over the weekend and $1.49 million. Overall, Ratatouille added $30.11 million on 4168 screens in 29 markets for a total of $310.12 million internationally and $515.03 million worldwide. The film could reach $400 million internationally, especially with its impressive legs so far. In the U.K. the film was down only 31% to $6.26 million on 535 screens over the weekend and $18.38 million in total, while in Germany it was down just 1% to $6.40 million on 860 screens over the weekend and $29.24 million in total. The only Pixar film to make more in that latter market was Finding Nemo at $54 million, which is in all likelihood out of reach, but not completely out of the question.
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Ratatouille remained in top spot with $21.07 million on 3721 screens in 39 markets for a total of $271.85 million. This includes a dominating first place, $9.08 million opening on 503 screens in the U.K. This was nearly twice as much as Cars debuted with in that market, but only half as much as The Incredibles. Meanwhile in Germany, the film was down 45% to $6.46 million for the weekend and $20.40 million in total. This is already more than Cars made in total in that market and is about a week away from also topping The Incredibles final figure of $24.22 million. Its best market is still France where it has made $64.76 million, just a hair below the $64.78 million Finding Nemo made in that market meaning Ratatouille has already become the all-time highest grossing Pixar movie in France.
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Ratatouille climbed to the top on the international charts thanks to a first place opening in Germany, which is one of its last major markets. The film pulled in $11.71 million on 853 screens, which is almost four times what Cars made during its opening and more than twice what The Incredibles debuted with. It isn't as strong as Finding Nemo but that's such a high standard that no one will be disappointed that it didn't make it there. Overall the film added $19.33 million on 3265 screens in 30 markets for a total of $245.83 million, including $63.92 million in France.
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September was predictable almost to the point of boredom.
However, October got off to a rather shocking, near record-breaking start.
Granted, these weren't records that studios want to break, with the overall box office fell 7% from last weekend to just $84 million. Worse yet, that was 24% lower than the same weekend last year.
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The summer blockbuster season may have ended a month ago, but The Bourne Ultimatum is still ruling the international box office. This week the film added $9.61 million on 2875 screens in 47 markets for a total of $162.78 million so far. The film had no major, or even midlevel openings this past weekend, but it still managed an estimated $1.5 million in France for a total of $12.6 million after three weeks there. Even if the film had no more markets left to debut in, it could still cross $200 million internationally, and with openings in Italy and Japan still ahead, the goal is to earn more than the first two installments in the franchise combined.
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Well, that was predictable. Nearly every film finished the weekend within $1 million of Thursday's predictions, and the one that missed the mark by the biggest margin was still off by just $3 million.
On the one hand, I'm happy our predictions were accurate.
On the other hand, it makes it difficult to find something interesting to add.
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September ends with little fanfare, but there are a couple of films that should be battling for first place.
So while no movie really has a shot at superstardom, the race for first should at least be fun to watch.
That said, the overall box office appears weak and will likely not keep pace with last year, making it two weekends in the row of year-to-year declines.
Hardly reason to panic after the strong winning streak, but something to watch.
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This week, three of the top five films were not in the top five last week, but despite all of the changes, The Bourne Ultimatum still earned an easy win. Over the weekend the spy thriller added $14.16 million on 3902 screens in 49 markets for a total of $145.59 million. The film had very few openings this past weekend, but did come out in first place in Portugal with $364,000 on 56 screens. The film was able to remain in first place in a number of markets, including France at $2.60 million on 510 screens for a total $7.53 million and Germany at $1.68 million on 717 screens for a total of $11.09 million. The film does have a few more markets to open in, (including Italy and Japan), and given its strong holds, it should hit $200 million before long and should earn more than the previous two installments of the franchise combined.
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It was a rather predictable weekend with no result shocking analysts too much.
Overall, we did see a rather large boost in the box office as the weekend ticket sales were close to $98 million, which was a 24% jump from the last weekend.
However, it was also roughly 1% lower than the same weekend last year. This means 2007's winning streak is over (assuming nothing significant changes after the chart is certified later in the week), but year-to-date there has been a 7% growth over last year and we are still on a record-setting pace.
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Not a long list this week, but at least we had a clear winner for the Weekly Website Award, Resident Evil: Extinction - Official Site. IN the coming weeks we should see some big sites launch as award season starts to heat up.
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September marches on but there are signs of weakness that we haven't really seen since before summer started. The recent winning streak on a year-to-year comparison is likely over as the margin of victory was just 1% last weekend and this week's batch of new releases are much weaker than last year's were.
However, it should be noted that 2007 is already a success on many levels and it would take a real collapse during the fall for studios to become worried.
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This week we have two sets of prizes, each of them representing a harmonious pairing. To win one must simply predict the box office opening for Resident Evil: Extinction. Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going over, will win two Dragon Dynasty releases, Jackie Chan's Police Story and The City of Violence.
Meanwhile, whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going under, will win Kiss: Kissology Volume II 1978-1991 and a CD Sampler from Emmy Rossum's debut CD, Inside Out, which doesn't come out until October.
Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay!
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After a record-breaking summer, we come to the worst month of the year. There are a few films that look promising, but for the most part the month is filled with projects that should probably never been given the greenlight to begin with. September is a dumping ground for failed projects, and like most similar times of the year, it is crowded with 20 movies that at least have a shot at opening or expanding wide over a period of just four weeks. Five new releases a week is far too many, even if they were all high quality at least half will fail just due to the competition.
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Busy week with more than 30 sites featured on the list. However, none really stand our as award-worthy; in fact, most only stand because of a lack of style. Hopefully as the fall season progresses and we near the holidays, we will get bigger and better sites launching.
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Another big list of movie sites, but not much in the way of top-notch entries. For a movie site to be an award winner, I expect it to have all of the usual features, extras like clips, something interactive like a game, and background sound and animation. The film that best exemplifies that criteria is Stardust - Official Site, which is the winner of the Weekly Website Award.
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Server upgrades went... less smoothly than anticipated, which delayed this column, but at least there are a huge number of sites to check out. Many of these sites are making their first appearance on the list while quite a few are making their last appearance. Unfortunately, while it's a big list, there are not many that are even close to being award worthy at the moment. 30 Days of Night - Official Site comes the closest, but I'm waiting for the missing features to be added before I make that decision.
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A busy week for new sites with roughly a dozen making their first appearance on this week's list. However, it was a site making its last appearance, Knocked Up - Official Site, that was judged best-of-the-best.
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Big week in terms of flash sites launching, but a tough one when it comes to picking a winner. There were several sites that were contenders, and a few that will likely be winners after a few more updates, but none that stood out as the best for the week. It's almost like there were so many that were so close to winning the award that none were able to stand out and get me excited. However, there was one site that was updated this week that did, The Simpsons Movie - Official Site. This site did get a new look, but the real draw here is the first full trailer, to go along with the three previous teasers. Is that enough to make it award worthy? No. But while my rational side was distracted by a game of Sudoku the Fanboy in me made that decisions, and all Fanboy freak-outs are legally binding. Hopefully the final site will live up to the award. I have a feeling it will.
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